George Condo: Mental States

George Condo: Mental States at the New Museum

I won't beat around the bush: George Condo's survey at the New Museum doesn't live up to the hype (see also 1, 2).

The portraits hung salon-style on the fourth floor (seen at left) are akin to an ambitious BFA exhibition--the overall effect was impressive until I started examining individual canvases.

A few jewel-like, multi-layered moments of promise stand out, such as the Goya-esque Three-Armed Man (unfortunately, given its placement on the wall and the highly reflective coat of varnish, it was hard to get a good angle to see it),  but overall these paintings are derivative and underworked.  Picasso, Francis Bacon, and yes, the "Old Masters" that Condo so wants to emulate have all done it before, and better.  Backgrounds are unconsidered, often scribbled in with a single color and left that way, pigments are muddy, and brushstrokes careless, even lazy.  (I won't bother to discuss his ill-conceived and forgettable sculpture busts.)  Note to the curators: "prolific" painters should not get a pass when they sacrifice quality.

I felt the same way about many of the canvases on the third floor as well, with the room off of the elevator being the notable exception.  The large multi-figure compositions in this area occasionally share the problems of haphazard strokes and muddy pigments, but given the difference in visual language, they are more aesthetically pleasing.  Some, like Female Figure Composition and Washington Square Park, are as simultaneously delicate and gritty as well-crafted graffiti, and Dancing to Miles, a richly woven tapestry of glowing colors, is a pure delight.  Condo's talents shine brightest in this work--it's a shame that the rest of the exhibition doesn't measure up.

AbEx New York

Robert Motherwell, Pancho Villa, Dead and Alive

In many ways, the MoMA's Abstract Expressionist New York is exactly what you'd expect.  "The Big Picture" (on view through April 25) features dozens of monumental Pollocks, Rothkos, and de Koonings, with a handful of sculptures and works by women (one apiece by Louise Nevelson, Joan Mitchell, Grace Hartigan, and Helen Frankenthaler, and two by Lee Krasner, more famous 'cause she was Jackson Pollock's wife) thrown in to remind you that the movement wasn't just a macho painterly pissing contest.  And a spectacular show it is, despite the blatant idolatry of certain artists' work at the expense of others, a fault that probably lies less with current curators and more with past museum directors.   

But that's just the fourth floor.

The two related exhibits on the second and third floors ("Rock Paper Scissors" and "Ideas Not Theories", respectively, on view through February 28) are intimate, thoughtfully curated explorations, showcasing works by artists who do not receive the big-ticket treatment as frequently, if ever.  "Rock Paper Scissors" in particular is a delight.  Located in the Prints and Illustrated Books gallery, the show is cohesive and well-suited to the space, which is ideal for close observation of the pieces.

The pairing of small and mid-size sculpture with drawings and prints ties the exhibit together beautifully, allowing viewers the pleasure of observing how artists like Nevelson, Isamu Noguchi, Dorothy Dehner and Seymour Lipton thought in both two and three dimensions.  Some of the scupltures, especially David Hare's Figure Waiting in Cold, are reminiscent of etchings, their delicate metal ribbing inscribing the space around them with short, linear strokes, while many of the works on paper, such as David Smith's drawing Untitled 5/28/55, or Stanley William Hayter's remarkable print Amazon, possess a distinctly sculptural quality.  This show deserves points for moving beyond the often-aggressive facade of the abstract expressionist movement and producing an experience that is nothing short of a revelation.         

Spanish Drawings at the Frick

Jusepe de Ribera, Head of a Man with Little Figures...

First point about the Frick's latest exhibit, "The Spanish Manner: Drawings From Ribera to Goya": it's actually two shows neatly collapsed under a single title, one primarily featuring seventeenth-century religious works, and the other examining Goya's mature drawings, ca. 1800-1820.  The curators attempt to integrate these temporally disparate categories in their introductory text, claiming that continuity is born out of a similar national spirit, but the argument is not particularly convincing.

It's hard to see how Goya's social critiques of human folly and brutality descend from the serene Madonnas and contemplative saints on view here, particularly given the "strident anti-clericalism" the curators note.  Even when the subject matter is analogous, as in Goya's Torture of a Man, ca. 1812-1820, and Vicente Carducho's Martyrdom of Father Andres, ca. 1632, the enormity of their difference is clear: Goya's drawing indicts man's pointless cruelty to his fellow man, whereas Carducho's work exemplifies the Christian cultural crusade against the Ottoman Empire.  And Sebastian de Herrera Barnuevo's delicate pen-and-ink treatment of an auto-da-fe, ca. 1660, emphasizes not the horror of what is about to occur, as Goya might, but rather the festive nature of the spectacle. Onlookers peer from their balconies and gossip jovially in the plaza, one even hoisting a young child onto his shoulders to get a better view of the condemned men awaiting their fate on the platform above. 

That being said, the exhibition is stunning throughout, showcasing exquisite draftsmanship spanning more than two hundred years.  Ribera's playful lilliputians and grotesque, used in the promotion on the Frick website, are certainly memorable, but there are also a number of gems by less well-known painters that should not be missed.  The show will remain on view through January 9.

Mehretu x 2

Julie Mehretu, Middle Grey

For those who haven't yet seen "Grey Area," Julie Mehretu's series of paintings for the Deutsche Bank and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, time is running out.  The show, which closes tomorrow, is well worth the visit.  Her monumental canvases, inscribed with sweeping architectural lines and flocks of calligraphic strokes, are a visual delight for art-lovers of all stripes, demonstrating an old-masterly command of mark framed with contemporary sensibilities.

Fans of Mehretu need not be dismayed, however--a solo exhibition of her works on paper, "Notations After the Ring," is on view at Gallery Met.  The clear star of this show is the artist's 15-foot etching, Auguries, beautifully editioned by the master printers at Gemini G. E. L.  Mehretu's mark ebbs and flows through the twelve panels, creating an epic narrative worthy of exhibition's Wagnerian namesake.  Her small graphite drawings, while lacking the fluid precision and polished composition of her larger work, possess a refreshing spontaneity. 

If you plan to visit the show, keep in mind that while entrance is free, the Gallery Met's hours are limited: 6 p.m. till last intermission Monday to Friday, and noon till last intermission on Saturdays.